About
Birdwatching
Birdwatching
About Roberta Palmer
Roberta Palmer started birding as a hobby in 1989 after receiving a birding life list journal from her sister. She has kept that list updated ever since.
In 1990 she joined the PEI Natural History Society with her best friend and fellow Birder. She became part of a small group that participated in an annual bird-a-thon every May for ten years. The goal was a “big day” or how many species they could see in 24 hrs on PEI. Each year they started out in the wee morning hours and listened for owls, then continued on to their favorite waterways, fields and forests to find and record an abundance of species, averaging at least 100 each year. Roberta started participating in the Christmas bird counts in 1990.
Roberta loves to bird watch at home and on her travels. Her most memorable trip was to Costa Rica in 2011 where she took birding expeditions led by local guides. Seeing a flock of Scarlett Macaws in flight was a major highlight. She has also been birding all across Atlantic Canada, Ontario, BC, many US states, Iceland, Spain, France,Italy and Greece, Mexico and Cuba.
Her love of birds and eye for design and composition eventually resulted in a desire to photograph the birds she was seeing. Over the past decade she has been investing in photography equipment to capture her bird sightings along with interesting nature and landscape scenes. She always has her camera in hand and now birds with it and rarely uses her binoculars.
Roberta has 607 species recorded (August 2021) on EBird; 246 of those species were seen on PEI. A highly regarded local birder she continues to add to her list both by sight and by ear.
East Point is her favourite spot to bird on PEI with its wide range of species both on the water and close to the road leading to the lighthouse.It is considered a must stop for any birder coming to PEI.
